Nintendo's Mystery DS Portable Revealed

Thanks to GameSpy for its story revealing the first information on the dual-screened, portable Nintendo DS, the previously rumored 'mystery console' that's been lacking any concrete details up to now. According to the piece, the DS "features two separate 3" TFT LCD display panels, separate processors, and semiconductor memory of up to 1 Gigabit. It's scheduled to launch worldwide before the end of 2004." The article further explains: "Players can look forward to being able to simultaneously manage their game progress from two different perspectives, enhancing both the speed and strategy of the challenge. For example, players will no longer be forced to interrupt game play to shift perspective, such as moving from a wide shot to a close up, or alternating between a character's ongoing battle and a map of their environment." A concurrently released official Nintendo press release confirms this information.

well....

[Transient0]

it looks like NGage isn't going to be the king of handheld gaming for much longer...

Dumbest thing ever!

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that all Nintendo has to compete against Sony?!

3D Gameboy?

[overworked+underpaid]

Here's a novel idea - have a different perspective on each screen, hold the unit three inches from your face and go crosseyed! Instant 3D! :-)

Re:well....

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly, the Virtual Boy is still a better system than the NGage.

Re:Er - Huh?

[yanos]

Yes, and if they're smart, they could also put some cell phone technology in it. This could be the their 'online' move, who knows?

Re:Interesting idea but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Also how useful will the second screen be in a fast paced game where 'glancing at the second screen' = painful death?

Lord knows how many Pikachus I lost doing that...

Re:Why two screens?

[NanoGator]

"Can you really focus on two screens at once? I can't."

Do you get a lot of speeding tickets?

Re:Why two screens?

[YomikoReadman]

Ahhh.. but if there are two screens, then we can assume that the handheld itself will be 2x wider.. which means 2x more room for batteries, and voila!! 15 hours of battery life, and everyone is happy!

Re:Why two screens?

[Afrosheen]

Probably, but he can only see one at a time, so the answer is no.

Concept Art

[Rufus211]

Here's some conecpt art [ign.com] thanks to ign [ign.com]

Re:Concept Art

[questorthew]

IGN reporting at its best.